We’ve just heard from Michelle that our Guam approval is through. That’s such great news as we’re starting to get a bit of cabin fever here in Taoyuan. It’s been an interesting stay, but hey, we’re trying to get to LA, not take a break in Taiwan!
Here’re a couple of shots to give an idea of what our re-planning involves. Google Earth is an incredibly powerful tool for this kind of trip – instantaneous distances, runway lengths, approximate weather, etc. And of course there’s the romance of just spinning the earth under your fingertips! Here’re a couple of screen-dumps showing our new routing (purple) and old (red). Then a closer shot of the Guam, Marshall Islands, Hawaii section. (Oh boy, there’s a lot of ocean out there – and all with headwinds!). Wake Island just looks so “out there” that I had to zoom in a little. Isn’t it cool? We’d like to go there, but actually it’s a little further from Wake to Hawaii than from the Marshall Islands, and it’s less certain on avgas.
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As we lost two of our 20 liter fuel containers (arduously acquired with Laurent in Reunion) when we had to abandon them at the entrance to the Bandaranaike International Airport in Sri Lanka, we’ve now had to find some more in preparation for the long legs to come. We dedicated a bit of yesterday to that and also to finding the other necessary odds n ends (a T piece, valve and hose clamp) to cut down plumbing work in-flight. The hotel receptionist wrote down what we needed on a piece of paper to make things easier. Take a look. (Just remember to read right to left and suddenly it’s not so hard).
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We stiiii … iillll haven’t got into Taipei. We were planning to leave to do so in a half hour or so and Jean’s just bolted downstairs to get some local info. I think we may still try get in there for the view from the top of the Taipei 101 Building, which was officially the world’s highest from 2004 until completion of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. I’ve checked the weather since I wrote the heading to this update and there’s a very nasty low pressure system just north of Guam. I imagine we may have to delay 24 hours to wait it out and that’ll leave a full day for exploring central Taipei tomorrow. Jean’s just come back and told me that Taipei is a mnemonic for “Technology, Art, Innovation, People, Environment and Identity”. It would be a bit of a disappointment to get this close and not immerse ourselves in it, so perhaps the weather is effectively playing into our hands to give us one more day to explore.
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I’m going to sign-off to prepare a flightplan and then get better weather input from Exeter. Jean’s announced that since we’re leaving soon he’s off to do a load of laundry and I’m delighted as I’ve been wearing the same pair of grey Cape Storm pants for 16 days without a break. Things just keep getting better!
J and J
PS – I am sad that we won’t be going to Adak – the kind of place you’re unlikely ever to get to if you miss out first time round. Then again, I’m also quite relieved – here’s something on the perils of landing there that’s been preying on my mind a bit. (Chalkie – it looks like we may not need those immersion suits as badly as we thought. They’re still close to hand in case, though!)
From the website of the World’s Most Dangerous Airports –
We’ve got another airport to add to our list of the world’s most dangerous airports. Adak Airport, the westernmost public airfield in the United States, makes our list, thanks to tipster Ron’s awesome story:
This used to be a US Naval Air Station way the heck out ‘n gone in the Aleutian Islands from about 1942 until closure in 1997. Since then, it’s become a civilian-operated airport. I’m not an air operations specialist of any sort, but as a civilian contractor working for the Navy, we commuted through Adak a number of times in 1989, 1990 and 1991 on our way to Amchitka, from Anchorage.
I specifically remember bouncing into Adak virtually every time we landed or took off from there. Seems the winds were always 30+, and sometimes as high as 60 when we finally got in or out. Then there was the fog.
There were several times we stooged around over the island for hours, hoping for 1/4 mile visibility so we could land. We usually made it in about 50% of the time on flights from Anchorage. If we were lucky enough to get in and out of Adak, we made it to Amchitka less than 50% of the time. We were flying Reeve Air.
One takeoff from Adak remains firmly implanted in my memory to this day.
It was mostly clear (very unusual for ADK), cold (teens) and very, very windy. We were flying an MD-11 (I think) and buffeted into the wind on take-off. Once wheels were up, we made the usual left turn to avoid the mountain at the end of the runway. (The mountain contained numerous glints of aluminum from a multitude of crashes over the years.)
Once we were banked left, the MD-11 apparently hit a severe wind shear and plummeted straight down toward the ocean, on our left wing. I was in a left-hand window seat and all I could see was water, rushing up towards us. In the seat next to me was a guy named Ben; all 6′ 6″ and 300 pounds of him, who was also on his way to Amchitka.
As the plane spun down, I grabbed what I thought was the armrest as tight as I could. People were screaming, one of the flight attendants was plastered up against the ceiling, stuff was flying out of the overheads like crazy and I absolutely knew we were gonna die.
Somehow, the Reeve pilot managed to force the plane back up into a more or less stable flight environment. It took us what seemed an eternity to make the 40 minute flight to Amchitka. Once we landed there, ALL the passengers headed straight for the bar–the flight crew as well!
The next day, I ran into Big Ben in the hallway and he showed me the massive bruises on his arm. I thought he might have been hit by flying debris during our unplanned descent, but, no, he said the bruises were from me grabbing what I thought was the armrest. Now, I’m a pretty small guy compared to Ben. But, apparently, during the 3,000 foot drop towards the ocean, I put enough pressure on his arm to leave marks which lasted over a week.
As a retired Air Force guy and now with many years as a government contractor, I have over a million air miles and an appropriate number of scary flights. But, without doubt, those white-knuckled ins and outs of Adak will never be forgotten.
Hhhmmmm, maybe it’s better we’ve changed route!
